Time for the annual would-voters-somewhere-get-a-clue contest. Yep, it’s Bubba’s Baseball Hall of Fame ballot.

Courtesy of ESPN.com, here’s your 2008 nominees and their 2007 results or if this is their first year:

Brady Anderson (first year on ballot)
Harold Baines (5.3 percent in 2007)
Rod Beck (first year on ballot)
Bert Blyleven (47.7 percent in 2007)
Dave Concepcion (13.6 percent in 2007)
Andre Dawson (56.7 percent in 2007)
Shawon Dunston (first year on ballot)
Chuck Finley (first year on ballot)
Travis Fryman (first year on ballot)
Goose Gossage (71.2 percent in 2007)
Tommy John (22.9 percent in 2007)
David Justice (first year on ballot)
Chuck Knoblauch (first year on ballot)
Don Mattingly (9.9 percent in 2007)
Mark McGwire (23.5percent in 2007)
Jack Morris (37.1 percent in 2007)
Dale Murphy (9.2 percent in 2007)
Robb Nen (first year on ballot)
Dave Parker (11.4 percent in 2007)
Tim Raines (first year on ballot)
Jim Rice (63.5 percent in 2007)
Jose Rijo (first year on ballot)
Lee Smith (39.8 percent in 2007)
Todd Stottlemyre (first year on ballot)
Alan Trammell (13.4 percent in 2007)

In the past, I’ve broken ranks with the other voters and listed as many as I could cram into a decent-sized blog entry. This year I’ll be strong and stick to five (alphabetically), despite the fact the BBHOF hasn’t had that large a class of regular, on-field players in many a year (1936, the year it opened, in fact). And here we go below the jump:

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The daughters (and their friends) are deep into the Guitar Hero craze, which is music for people who don’t have time to play real guitars and such. The girls have an extensive musical history and their dirty little secret is they learned a lot about music playing the handbells back in the Nineties.

I won’t embarrass them anymore on the subject except to say there is a web site that speaks to their past and their present: Handbell Hero.

“The VMBells are ready to bring the holiday cheer. The snowmen, the fluttering snow birds, the eggnog. But they’re only as good as you are. So pick up your hand bells and give Handbell Hero a whirl. And don’t be surprised if the pressures of the holiday season melt away as you are filled with joy and hope and a whole new appreciation for the art of the hand bell.”

Click here and rock on, baby!

So this is Xmas
And what have you done
Another year over
And a new one just begun
And so this is Xmas
I hope you have fun
The near and the dear one
The old and the young

A very Merry Xmas
And a happy New Year
Let’s hope it’s a good one
Without any fear

And so this is Xmas
For weak and for strong
For rich and the poor ones
The world is so wrong
And so happy Xmas
For black and for white
For yellow and red ones
Let’s stop all the fight

A very Merry Xmas
And a happy New Year
Let’s hope it’s a good one
Without any fear

And so this is Xmas
And what have we done
Another year over
A new one just begun
And so happy Xmas
We hope you have fun
The near and the dear one
The old and the young

A very Merry Xmas
And a happy New Year
Let’s hope it’s a good one
Without any fear
War is over, if you want it
War is over now

Scraping the bottom of the barrel here…

From the home office in beautiful downtown Wahoo, Nebraska: here’s the writer’s-strike-sensitive, viewer-submitted Top Ten List from David Letterman:

“Top Ten Least Popular Holiday TV Specials”

10. “Mugging On 34th Street” - Mike M., Wonder Lake, IL

9. “Gift Wrapping With The Stars” - TJ L., Racine, WI

8. “Donald Trump’s Holiday Combovers” - Jeffrey W., Roscoe, NY

7. “Hillary Clinton in ‘Pantsuits of Christmas Past’” - James B., Mt. Ida, AR

6. “The 75th Annual Leaving of the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree Out On The Curb” - Richard F., Saint Mays, CA

5. “That’s Hot: Paris Hilton Tells The Story Of The Yule Log” - Christine N., Del Mar, CA

4. “Pamela Anderson Celebrates ‘The Twelve Days of Marriage’” - Vern P., Gainesville, VA

3. “Larry Craig’s Tappin’ New Year’s Eve” - Anne S., Seattle, WA

2. “Michael Vick in ‘Snoopy’s Last Christmas’” - Greg F., Columbia, SC

1. “Rudolph, The Performance-Enhanced Reindeer” - Mark L., Kansas City, MO